The Oath
by ClosetFanGrill
Summary: ...What was it…? Fruit, friendship, fresh bread, home, sugar…? No. It could only be described as ‘Sora’. The bare skin of Sora’s sweat jewelled cheek squeaked against the supple black leather of Riku’s Unknown robes... Abandoned for obvious reason: KH2! X
1. Authors Essay

_Authors Essay_

_**Please at least skim**_

_Disclaimer: I lay no claim whatsoever to Kingdom Hearts nor any of its affiliates. Nor do I own the song 'Yellow' by Coldplay, the lyrics of which appear whilly nilly :giggles: throughout this little fic of mine, in form of title chapters and occasional line of dialogue.Nor Do I own 'The Oath', a beautiful piece of music by Nobuo Uematsu from Final Fantasy VIII Piano collections (Go take a listen) from which this fic takes its name. I am however saving my pennies to buy shares in Cloud Strife and Sephiroth. I may well be saving forever, but a girl can dream, ne? _

This had not been BETAed ;.; tragic, ne? If anyone would be so kind as to offer to do so, or to do so for future fics, I'd be grateful. 

This idea was spawned from a crappy drabble of mine (Treasured Memories) that I wrote foreeeever ago I kept meaning to come back to this but I was running dangerously low on motivation ; But anyhu, I finally got round to it and I'm bubbling with ideas bubble :o See?

Cloud: This is going on far too long, someone have mercy and give her a cookie or something? Maybe then she'll shut up.

You shoosh. :pokes Cloud:

Ya, so this longing and the unrequited love and the angst and inevitable falling head over heels in love. Because everyone that ever read a fanfic knows that story off by heart. This is what happens afterwards. After Kingdom Hearts and after our two favourite boys finally give in to their feelings.

Cloud: Make it over… Make her stop…

:PRODS Cloud: SO! This is NOT about the tension and the  
You. SHOOSH. pokes Cloud May I never rant for so long ever again in my little life. Or at least in this fic. I hope you enjoyed and continue to. …

Cloud: Oh sweet planet…

_This is rated M _simply because of RikuXSora fluffiness and a little angstyness, that for some reason, some people find offensive. Shrugs Weirdoes.

_To anyone who finds MaleXMale relationships offensive or unacceptable or whatever:_ consider yourself warned and scuttle off elsewhere d.n.n.b Think before you flame. "OMFG GROSS BOY LUFF!" Does not make you sound clever… Thank you.

This offers little explanation as to any of the mysteries of Kingdom Hearts, it just expresses the characters emotions once it's all over… But I may well speculate about what may have happened as the story rolls on. I wouldn't want you to read of you hadn't gotten at least a little way into the game or already spoiled it for yourself. Anyhu. So, time has passed and Riku and Sora would be a couple of years older… so around 16 or 17.)

I plan on writing a good few chapters. Not too ambitious, I think I can handle it.

AAANYWAY! Lets mosey!

Cloud: … HEY! That's MY line!

Shush. Or I shall spank you.

Cloud: … :le-sigh: Such a hard life.


	2. Look at The Stars

_**The Oath.**_

_**Chapter One.**_

_**Look at the stars.**_

**oOoOoOo**

"Don't give me that shit!" Riku hissed furiously, "you went free! Unscathed! I died that day!" spitting the hurried heated words like a rancid flavour across the mere, square foot of sand that separated him from Sora.

"SO! DID! I!" Sora's voice cracked and broke in the summer nights air, the cold words unable to withstand the sheer force behind the brutal screech that pushed them forth into the hot debate. The younger boy panted, desperately trying to recover spent breath. "… So did I, Riku." He gulped and once again attempted to regain control of his ragged breathing, his body rebelling against his every effort. "If you think- if for one SECOND you think the thought of what happened to you didn't haunt me every day!" eyes were dry and dead in his skull, behind the watery glaze that stung them. Ferrell rage and frustration was graven into his soft and delicate features. "Shadow my every STEP! Then you could never have really known me at ALL! IT KILLED ME RIKU! YOU KILLED ME! "

Conversation sat and rotted in the thick, empty humidity of the night.

Riku's angelic face was pinched, angry and red, his lips parted as if to retort or question… but his voice died in his throat, and he could not speak a word. The day the darkness swallowed him. The day it smothered him, he was standing just a little way from here… by the lazy moonlight much like this nights… He remembered, in nauseating detail, the look of absolute horror in Sora's eyes as the tendrils bound around their outstretched hands and searching fingers… He could see the distress he caused the hope he began to crush the trust he butchered… it was true. Of course it had hurt Sora too… He tried to speak again, perhaps to comfort or reassure? He wasn't entirely sure, but what did it matter, when sweet intentions could only sit in his mouth and rot on his tongue.

Riku pointed his chin towards his own chest and fumbled with the blindfold bound tight to his eyes and tossed it into the sand. Bone dry grains clung to the dark, clammy wet fabric, before the gentle sea breeze led it dancing into the night that camouflaged it so perfectly. Riku sucked deep the salt air that poisoned his lonely heart with home, and dries his eyes on a leather clad wrist to gaze upon his friend. His… friend…? He wanted to believe their friendship could survive anything. Now… he was unsure…

The only sound that could be heard was jagged, urgent breathing and the gentle whisper of the rolling tide.

"hah- hah-" Sora's face was slowly draining of the furious red that rushed to it as he had bellowed at Riku as he wheezed and gasped to catch the breath that escaped him. He had grown so sickly weak and exhausted. "We didn't rea- hah- hah! Didn't really have that different a deal, you know? I was fucking rotting in the light while you- ahh- while you festered- hn- in the darkness." He hissed a breath through parted lips and gritted pearly, butter tinted teeth. He would not show weakness now, not after coming so far and working so hard, he would not. But he felt so tired, so dizzy, his head was swimming and thoughts swiftly drowning. Was he even managing to maintain any kind of balance? "I. I can't breathe, Riku…" Shit.

Sora's darkening eyes watched Riku form behind the fog that settled in them as they expelled harsh hot tears that grated when they slip down his cold cheeks. He bore his snarling wildcat teeth and they rattled as he gasped breath after ragged breath through them. His nostrils flared madly, and he was numb to it, he was numb to the pain in his body, as if it were someone else's ache that he was dully aware of. He allowed his eyelids to drop closed and his tensed forehead and furrowed brow to relax. He swayed where he stood and uttered something ineligible as his chest tightened, his breathing became choked, he stumbled foreword, sand slid from beneath his trembling feet and he fell.

Directly into Riku's chest, his cheek presses weightily against the throbbing of the older boy's heart.

Sora was snatched up, and his rescuer, with a trembling sigh of resignation, hugged him close relishing the scent that swam from the boy cradled in his arms to sweeten the air around him. What was it…? Fruit, friendship, fresh bread, home, sugar… No. It could only be described as 'Sora'. The bare skin of Sora's sweat jewelled cheek squeaked against the supple black leather of Riku's Unknown robes as he lifted him into the safe circle of his strong, toned arms. Carefully he teetered across the beach and up the rickety stairs of the old seaside shack, Sora draped across his arms and slung around his broad shoulders. He had neither the strength nor the wit about him to clamber up the desecrated, crumbling old ladder with his friend slug over his shoulder to make it to the comfort of the tree house, so on reaching the top floor Riku gently lay Sora down in the shallow pool of sand that had collected in the room. He went about arranging crates and sandbags and created a nest to lay the brunet in, so that he could safely, soundly and in some form of comfort. The silver haired boy padded across the room and stooped to tentatively lift his friend from the sand, brushing the grains from the cinnamon coloured hair, his own tousled, dusty coloured locks glowing blue with the rare rays of moonlight that clawed their way through clouds and the narrow cracks in the wall. He crept through the thickening velvet blue of the night and set Sora's legs, then torso, then head, gently onto his improvised bed.

And Riku watched. He watched cloud filtered Moonlight's fingertips stretch though the crevices in the timbre, flutter with the movement of Sora's lashes and the love-in-mist glow it set upon his bronzed angel face. He watched beads form on his forehead and watched him begin to slowly writhe and squeak anxiety in his sleep.

"Noh… no…" Soft pleads were uttered from the brunets lips. Riku snorted and folded his arms tight against his stomach as he observed him curl around himself and shiver to defend himself from the night terrors.

"So we do still have soothing in common." Riku voiced his bitter thoughts to the night. He hesitated before extending a shaking hand to soothe Sora's contorted face and mutter awkward comforts into his ear. "Hush, you're safe, Sora, I'm watching over you. You're safe." Sora stilled, and his eyes lifted leisurely open long enough to search out a knot in the weather worn woodwork large enough to peer through at the sky. A gentle breeze gently nudged away the curtain of clouds, and for a moment starlight lifted the vial of darkness over Sora's face.

"Look at the stars…" He breathed. Riku's breath hitched in his painfully dry throat as the stars danced and were captured in the azure ocean residing in his innocent younger friend's eyes, before the lids closed once again, obscuring sky and sea from view. It was safe to breathe again. Sora sank into sleep once again, easily, as Riku continued to watch him throughout that lonely night.

Later, Sora awoke to find himself blinking stupidly into Riku's cyan eyes. He smiled for a second, before his expression darkened and he sprung to his feet, wavering where he stood, still attempting to shrug off the veil of misty sleep still clinging to his bones and obscuring his vision. When he had yawned and stretched, lifting it sufficiently, he tilted his head lazily to his side to face his old friend.

**oOoOoOo**

Who was nowhere to be seen.

"…Riku…?" His soft voice fell and caught in the powdery sand. The little room began to make Sora uneasy and claustrophobic. He had to get out. He had to find Riku. … Did he imagine Riku being there at all this morning? …But then how did he get into the shack? And he thought- no, he was positive, it was Riku's voice that called him from the horror of the darkness last night. But then wasn't it always? Whenever he was so lucky to dream of a friendly face, it had always, always been Riku-

Shouting, spitting, furious glowing green, broken smiles of greeting, falling…

"Oh, nonono…" The memories of the night before hit him hard. He sat up and swayed in his bed. Why had he collapsed? Did someone throw a punch? Or had he just lost control and slipped under? He hadn't eaten much over the last couple of days, he had hardly slept, either. But insomnia wasn't something he was a stranger to, all those nights he couldn't sleep for fear of the sandman snatching his heart away while he was unaware. So why, why-

-I died that day-

Oh. That. Sora winced at the bite of his own black chortle as he remembered his bought of hysteria that followed Riku's scathing. Neither of them deserved it… at east it was over now. At least he had _found_ his friend. It was unreal. After so much time spent fighting through the darkness to find him, so very very long. To just bump into him one night while he strolled along the beach. Be felt giddy and numb. He wanted to smack the older boy square in the nose and then hug him within an inch of death.

But first, to find him.

Sora hadn't even heard him get up to leave, nor the creak that should have issued from the rusty hinges of the old door, let alone trudge across the golden sands, to… to...? Sora pushed the weather warn, salt stained door open and surveyed the area, spinning on his heel, looking for a flash of silver or splash of jade anywhere amidst the gold of the morning. Correction. Realised Sora, as he glanced at the suns position I the sky. Afternoon. He found both silver and green on paupu island. Riku was perched on the trunk of the tree, looking over his shoulder at Sora. An odd sort of half smile, no, a forlorn smile, on his delicate lips. It did not reach his eyes.

Sora cringed as he broke the silence, his feet crunching the sand as he made his way towards the bridge, then delicate -clunk- -clunk- -clunks- accompanied his hurried steps across the planks. He ignored the growing awkward tension as he approached his old friend, and focused his attention on admiring the horizon he had been. Noting that it was nice to know, for once, that they were both looking at the same sky, instead of wondering. Instead of hoping against hope.

"…" Sora didn't speak a word, but his stony eyes bore into Riku's when he turned to face him. He bit his lip, fighting the pout it was evident, at least to Riku, was begging to be set upon his petal pink lips.

So it was left up to the older of the two to kill the painful silence.

"You've changed so much." He stated. Where were the honest, giving eyes he had loved so much? Riku couldn't help but wonder, had he had a hand in killing those beautiful blue pools? Had he polluted them? Was it really his fault that nothing beyond the surface could be seen for the murky shield beneath? He slowly drew a laboured breath and turned his gaze down to study the bark of the paupu tree.

"So have you." Sora commented, observing through guarded gaze as Riku shied away from him and pretended to be so captivated by the patterns in the tree bark. He was broken.

"I'm sorry Sora…" He whispered. "It could have been so different, couldn't it…?"

So broken. And it broke Sora's heart to see it.

"So am I." Sora lay a hand on Riku's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly, before sitting down beside him, slightly higher up the horizontally bowing tree trunk. The brunette pressed his lips together firmly in a thin line.

Riku thumbed the tattered leather of his black coats sleeve and eyed the shifting sun. Although the tension lingered, all seemed forgiven. Or at least, temporarily forgotten. "Is everyone home?"

"… Probably." Sora made the effort to chirp. Anticipating his friends next question "Not many people know I'm here yet. Only Kairi, actually. Maybe Tidus, but I don't think he was awake… unless… if she told him? I-"

"Tidus?" Riku raised an eyebrow to query his friend's contemplative tone.

"Well… I had to return Kairi's charm. Like I promised her I would… I went to find her." he stated dutifully. "Heh, as soon as I got over the initial shock of just finding myself at 'home' all of a sudden of course. Yeah. So I went. It was the middle of the day... I let myself into her house. Didn't wanna make a big scene outside. Couldn't find her, figured I'd wait, but I was exaaausted, so I went to see if I could crash upstairs, b-but. But Tidus, Tidus was … is…" he corrected "Tidus is with Kairi. Or so I gather, from the sight of him sleeping, tangled up in her bed sheets. Eheh…"

Riku shot Sora a look of genuine concern, as if he were almost expecting his friend to break down again.

"I'm sorry. Losing your…" Riku bitterly admitted "first love… hurts. I know it does." Sora gave him a reassuring smile, but it didn't begin to touch his blue granite eyes. Was that disappointment at Riku's reaction that lurked there?

"Don't be sorry. It's okay. I'm glad… I'm glad she had someone to take care of her. I hated to think she was all alone. Just waiting." He looked pensively up towards the crown of the paupu tree, where the sun danced on the leaves swaying in the gentle salty breeze. He shrugged casually and bit the inside of his lip. Riku frowned. "Hm. Riku?" Sora tested the old nickname like he would a raft new born to the open water "Are you going to go see everyone today?"

"No. I'm not ready yet. Not yet."

"I can understand that. I feel the same, I can't face the fuss. Bumped into Kairi on my way out. Hmm Didn't stay long though. Even told her not to tell a soul, though I doubt she's sure I was really there at all. I've been living here a few days since. I don't wanna deal with the people yet Wouldn't quite know how." He gestured around the island, vaguely.

"The fanfare you mean…" Sora blushed but ignored Riku's bitter dark humoured quip and accompanying, despondent though it might have been, smirk. "You saved the world, Sora. Worlds, plural, even. Each and every one of them. You saved us all, don't expect that to go unnoticed."

"No, no, don't be _silly_, Riku." Riku sneered at Sora's dismissal. "Not a soul on Destiny Isle has the ghost or _inkling_ of an idea that I was responsible for 'saving the worlds'… why would they? We're just two of the tragically lost when the darkness took the land, is all. No one would believe us if we told 'em."

"… Simple as that?" Although begrudged to admit it, Riku was more convinced than not.

"Simple as that." Sora confirmed with a grim smile and a nod.

"Hm. Perhaps."

"Huh. Really though. How are either of us gonna get by, here? Two 'missing persons', likely presumed dead, appear form nowhere with no explanation besides a _fantastic fantasy of struggle and strife_. They'll just think we've gotten lost, caught too much sun and drunk far too much sea water. Gone round the bend. We have no qualifications and no real life skills besides fighting… hah, the great hero of Destiny Islands! Hahah… Of all the worlds! A bum! Ha!" And Riku laughed along with him. Though wondered is his friend might be a little hysterical. His laugh not just bitter, but almost sinister.

"Weeell! We could… we could write said story down. And threaten a publisher, with our acquired fighting skills, into publishing us. And make a mint!" The silver haired boy forced a giggle, aware of the harsh truth disguised in the gentle, playful words of his friend. He knew a similar pathetic fate awaited him, too. Though his fall was from a considerably smaller height. He was creeping from the shadows into the island sunlight, but Sora was slipping from where he belonged amongst the angels to skulk around this water walled prison for the rest of his life. Hell, he deserved so much better.

"Hah, ya know, all I really have are the clothes on my back. My home isn't my home. My life isn't my life. My family and friends have already mourned for me. I have nothing and no one."

"No. Wrong again Sora. You have nothing, and me." Riku interjected, firmly. "You still have me. Always." Sora's eyes grew wide at this declaration and his cheeks blushed strawberry.

"Well then. We can be The Destiny Island Hobo's together. Heh, live in the secret place and only come out to beg small children for change! Or perhaps the mushroom cave? The shack would be too obvious…" Sora joked.

Conversation came with increasing ease as silliness ensued and irony and sarcasm dripped from many a word. Niether boy noticed the sun move across the sky or the shades of rose that began to bleed from the horizon. Frustration built up and burst free at last.

"Ugh! Isn't it horrible? All the uncertainty, Riku? I don't even know if everyone made it over the very first hurdle. My own mother could be dead for all I know… heh" He chortled and shook his head at his own black humour. "I don't suppose it matters anymore, does it?" Riku sat up at this. Doesn't matter!

"Of course it matters!" Riku gasped, gazing, slack jawed at his friends observation. "They're your family! Your friends! Don't try to act all 'lassie faire', now, Sora. I know you better than that! No one." Chuckling, he poked Sora directly in the belly before snatching his hand back and arranging it squarely at his side. "Hm. You big softie."

Sora accepted the gentle jab good naturedly. With that brand new, wise, pitying, smile of his and shook his head once more. "Nah, I'm not trying to be dismissive or cool or anything Riku, I- uh… I just…" He took an epic breath and a chasm of a pause "I'm just being realistic. I'm dead to them, and they are to me." Riku looked at Sora's carefully crafted expression with a puzzled wonderment in his bright teal eyes. Of course, he understood exactly what Sora meant; he felt very much the same way himself, lost and alone in the darkest parts of all the worlds. But he had never once considered that this enigmatic angel could possibly feel so dull and bleak inside his sunny shell. "Ah! No one knew I was still alive or even if I was ever coming back and neither did I!" He gushed, hardly pausing for breath "I was fourteen. Just fourteen when they died. I saw my world ripped apart right in front of me, you know? I was there till the last. I tried to stay optimistic but… I didn't know if anyone else made it. So… in my heart, I let them all go. They may as well have been dead, because I'd never see them again. Everyone… everyone has… mourned for their losses already." Sora paused to consider his next line in this pantomime, and carefully, he changed the tone once again, and chose- "You know…" Sora began, but trailed off immediately. Riku shifted to face him, but Sora was still gazing towards the trees bounty.

"Hm?" No, Riku didn't know. Riku had no idea, though he wished he did.

"You know that I'll…" the sentence died.

"Sora, you're killing me here." Riku chuckled nervously.

"Hn." He turned round to face the silver haired boy, swinging one leg over the other side of the tree to sit astride it, hands on the trunk, he leant forwards. Giving Riku a pleading look, the battlements guarding his true eyes came rolling to the ground in quiet tears.

There they where.

Riku smiled. There were his eyes.

The honest, giving, loving, caring eyes that Riku had always adored and admired. The gorgeous ocean blue eyes that conveyed every emotion so very blatantly. The corners of Sora's petal pink lips twitched upwards uneasily, and his brows anxiously arched. He was straining just to force the words to come. Terrified.

"You know that I'll always love you, uuh…" He clenched his teeth and clawed a breath back through them "…right?" His pouting lips, gnawed red, begged for an answer.

"Oh…"

It wasn't the most terribly romantic deceleration that ever was. The desperation and hunger in Sora's eyes confirming the truth to his friend. This love he held. It was not platonic and not brotherly. It was awkward and scared and starved.

No, it wasn't awfully romantic. Hero and anti hero both being as sleep tousled, battle beaten and un-groomed as they were. It wasn't sung by the garnet glow of the setting sun or conveyed by moonlit serenade. There was no music, nor candlelight to be had. Just an obviously strained sentence uttered as the high summer sun began to drop in the sky to shatter the crisp late afternoon air, drawing prickly sweat to the surface the boys skin as they perched on paupu island. Like dew on morning grass.

Was the rushed and desperate gasp of the brunet enough in itself that the silver haired boy could be swooned?

Should his confession have to be an epic and momentous occasion? Sora panicked, waiting tense for the blow that surely came after 'Oh…"

Already he regretted saying anything at all. Stupid Sora, _stupid_! He scolded himself, crushing his eyes closed and nestling his chin down to his chest, he opened his mouth to apologise.

Still, Riku didn't reply, but stood, before his friend could speak and sharply turning from him smiled a secret, feral, smile. Sora's eyes flew open and grew impossibly wide, unbelieving, soul already stinging with the slap of rejection he gasped and clung to the tree to support himself.

Riku sprung, catlike, into the uppermost branches of the tree and landed shakily. There he balanced for a moment, clamping pearly enamel teeth around the second skin of each of his supple leather glowed in turn and tugging them free. Sora did not acknowledge the gentle -thunk- -thunk- of the worn leather hitting the ground beside his feet or the small clouds of sand that rose around them. Relishing the open air weave between his naked fingers, Riku turned his avid attention to the next, a far greater task. He steadied his uneasy legs and agilely ambled into the crown of the tree, from which he plucked the lushest of jewels, the plumpest fruit of the perfect blushing yellow. He landed with impossible grace, determined he would not wobble, at Sora's feet. Yes. He said silently. God, yes.

Sora looked down at the paupu that Riku carefully cradled and proffered, bruising under his heated and urgent grasp of one hand and the ripe fruit yielding under the firm touch between his thumb and forefinger around one of the five points. Both boys watched in ardent fascination as the skin split, revealing the glowing flesh parting and it crying honeyed tears of happiness beneath. He leant forward, carfuly placing the paupu, with an unsteady anticipating hand, onto the trunk of the tree.

Riku raised the morsel of fruit to Sora's parted lips and offered it for him to take. The younger boy looked up, slowly, struggling to meet the elder's gaze, afraid of what he might find there. He gasped back a sob and bit his tongue as he felt his cheeks reddening once more. Looking from the hand Riku held to him, to his beautiful, beautiful porcelain face, cheek bones highlighted pink, he gathered his courage. His tongue darted out to taste the juice running down Riku's fingers, and he smiled, and he ate. Lips closed around the tips of Riku's thumb and forefinger, and he melted. Leaning foreword to run his unoccupied slender fingers through spiky spiced cinnamon hair, gently easing the boy's head up, he stole a kiss.

It was returned with bashful passion.

Clumsy lips cried gasped and bumped together, Riku's eager tongue lapping the trickles of juice that spilled from Sora's mouth between mewls and furious attempts to capture the older boy's with his own. A hand tangled in his hair tamed the wild cat in him, and his submitted to Riku's guidance. His testing, tender, tongue that teased the paupu from the brunet's mouth and brought it to rest between their mouths.

Both opened their eyes, hearts beating fast and rhythmically.

Sora drowned in cream jade green, Riku was smothered by crystalline ink blue.

And so they shared their first bite of paupu.

A silent oath.

They ate, and they held each other close, sitting snug in the sand, touching shy touches, kisses sweet kisses, until Sora noted that night had come and cloaked them.

"Look at the stars…"

"…I'm looking… I'm looking." Riku sighed against Sora's lips, not tilting his head up to gaze at the night sky. He preferred to see the sequinned velvet indigo night… reflected on the waters of the azure ocean in his Love's eyes.

**oOoOoOo**

To be continued…

**oOoOoOo**

**Obligatory Authors Crap:**

**And they lived happily ever after :sarcasm:  
**

**Ahem. A couple of notes on this chapter. OUCH that was short. EEK that was a rather fast… erm… revelation. BUT there was a purpose for that :o This is not about the build up. This is about the… aftermath. Making a new life, together. There are plot bunnies lurking in the wings. MYA ha. MYAHAHA. HA. HA. :Cough: Haha… **

**Cloud:Groan: No one likes a ranter.**

**  
:Pokes Cloud: ONWARDS! You will find the exit on the left and on other side of the review button. **


	3. Look How They Shine For You

_The Oath_

Chapter Two

_Look How They Shine For You_

**oOoOoOo **

Riku couldn't, nor did he have the slightest desire, to sleep that night. He held his weary companion in his strong arm once more, watching his lashes flutter in the moonlight that drenched them. This night was too perfect to spoil with sleep. He willed it to stretch for all eternity, to feel Sora's heart beating below his, to hear his mewls and sighs on contentment echo from the depths of his sleep and to feel his baby breaths on his belly… forever.

With the brightening of the darkness came a chill breeze, which frightened Riku from his fascinated stupor. With every care not to wake the younger, he scooped him up against his chest and set him down the other side of the paupu tree to shelter him. The angry metallic buzz that issued from the zip of Riku's Unknown garb rang through the bitter blue of the early morning as he slipped it from his arms and draped it about the form of his friend… his lover… His Sora.

Riku knelt over his lover and smiled at the picture before him. Sora lying on his side in the sand, curled around himself and snug under the worn leather of Riku's coat, cheeks protesting with pretty rose stains against the fresh cold of the morning air.

Sora could feel a wonderful warmth envelope him and gently tug at his waist, before he felt a heat and a rhythmic beat against his back. Yet he couldn't help but shiver when he felt the beautiful tingle that rippled down his spine and to his toes, which followed the bump of a nose and caress of a breath against the nape of his neck. His newly tensed limbs melted back against the sand as that nose ran leisurely up and down his arched neck, absorbing his scent, and then to his ear... he was lulled back to the deepest pits of sleep my the cooing of that angelic voice he knew so well.

It felt like mere moments later that he felt himself truly aware of the cocoon of warmth that had engulfed him. What a beautiful dream he had been immersed in… the best yet. Rather than waking from it… to the bitter morning beyond his sun warmed sandy mattress that he snuggled further into, Sora chose to bask in the afterglow of the night. They had kissed… embraced… and Riku had stayed by his side. He felt safe and he felt loved. His dream self had fallen asleep with his head rested on a leather cushioned shoulder and sunken into yet another layer of consciousness.

…

Kissed? Embraced?

That, he mused, had never happened before. He usually woke before any blissful though fleeting contact had the chance to blossom into anything more. Awoke to find himself alone. Oh the ache in his chest… He should shake away the twisted tease of this dream that slowly shackled him down, grounded within. The sting would only be sharper the longer he indulged. He could, at least, count himself lucky that this time, at least, he knew he was safe and warm, away from the bloody dark ditches of war. He could rest assured that he was snatched from 'Dream-Riku's' warm arms to a new beginning… not to be delivered back into the beating breast of a battle still living. Not fearing the pulse of the ever strengthening darkness that loomed, as always, uncomfortably close, prickling the hairs on his skin up towards it, the cold- no.

No, that was over now.

The trenches drilled in shadow leeched earth amber glowing wickedly midnight dancer scythes wicked poison sharp diabolic kiss death bring death make it end make it over make it die drive them heart thief wicked thief STEALS IT outTEARSforbiddenTEARINGsoulsDAWNdrawsclose-

ITS OVER.

He whimpered and shook, curling his limbs tight to his belly and burying his face in the sand.

Its over its over its over… but it it'll never leave me… will it? He thought grimly, tensing himself against another wave of shaking, limbs tight to his chest, resisting the urge to contort in panic, fighting away the demons-

Its over its over "Shhh, Sora… its gone now… it over, you were dreaming… baby, shh, its over…"

Sora felt himself being pulled up against a chest… a strong arm encircling him from behind, a thumb gently gliding up and down the soft skin of his exposed belly, his shirt had ridden up…He gasped and choked on a sob of surprise.

"Shhh…" He heard, he felt, cooed in his ear, sending ripples along his spine that made his fingers tingle and leg twitch deeper into the sand. Oh please… he prayed silently, please oh please…

"R-Riku…" He found his voice and squeaked.

"Sora." He heard a chuckle, could feel the vibrations of that silken voice fluttering into the warm breeze all around him.

Still Sora refused to open his eyes.

"Too… beautiful. Too perfect…"

"What is?"

"Mm… I'm here… with you." The brunette's fingers found their way round his friends wrist, to grip and ground his soaring spirit. "I've waited so long. I missed you so much I was so scared I wouldn't see you I didn't go a day without thinking about-"

"Good morning, lazy bum. … … I wonder… How long does the paupu taste stain ones lips." Riku interrupted and pondered aloud, kissed Sora firmly on the lips to quell talk of fear and war, to melt again the splinters of ice on the surface of the oceans in his eyes. "We're here now. That's what matters."

"You're right… Hehe." Sora smiled and giggled politely, although he still had not found his feet. Cobwebs of dreams of nightmares true still needed to be shaken from his shoulders.

The silver haired boy sat up smart, perched squarely on the brunette's stomach, releasing his arms to fold his own across his chest. He was that boy again.  
"Hmm…" Riku thought allowed, rolling and sucking his own tongue.

"Ee?" Sora squeaked, his eyes bright and alert, hands still above his head as if in subconscious surrender. He knew he was being distracted from his own dark musings… He didn't care.

"The flavour does indeed linger, even now. Or are you naturally insanely sweet, sharp, yet pleasantly creamy and pastely in taste and texture? … I'll have to monitor this situation closely, I intend to find out." He continued to babble nonchalantly, one arm now raised so he could trail a finger thoughtfully around his own lips "A bothersome task… But I must know." He smirked the smirk of a boy with a wooden sword, an unmatched record and not a worry in the world.

"Bothersome!" Came a tiny outraged cry from beneath Riku. "Don't let it be a _burden _now. I wouldn't want to _trouble you!_ Don't waste your oh-so-precious hours examining _me, _I'm sure you have much more important things to do!" Sora folded his arms, drew his brow into a tight frown and thrust out his lower lip in a decisive and determined pout. It wavered, trembled…

Soon, both collapsed into giggles and simply lay there in the golden sands, embracing, and admiring, until a loud and complaining –GUUUU- erupted from the mess of limbs. Likely to have originated from the dark depths of Sora's stomach.

Scrunching his eyes and wrinkling his nose, Sora whined "Breeeakfast Rikuuu! Feed me? I'm hungry Riku, feed me! Feed me Rikuuu…" And pawed at the belly of the silver haired boy. He paused a moment and blushed… he cringed inwardly, embarrassed for letting awkwardness melt away so easily. Should… should it really be so simple? No. But he worried himself far, far too much. These things would be dealt with later… now was time to eat!

"Not a bad plan my spiky friend!" Jumping to his feet he ruffled a handful of the brunette spiky that jutted proudly from Sora's head.

The boys gorged of the white flesh and sweet milk of the fattest yellow coconuts they could gather, huddled together in the cradle of shadow thrown town by the afternoon sun. Their skin had forgotten the sunshine and blushed pink at its touch.

One day passed under the palms, under the sun. And another. They grew slowly fatter and quickly sick of their old islands fruits. Content for a moment to be in the glow of one another's love, light and laughter, they explored the island, they paced along the familiar sands as if holy ground. Holding hands and smiling at the horizon. They paused to sit on dusty memories, and laugh about old times, the shadows of friends they had, the things they used to do. The things they did before the sky came falling down that day.

**_oOoOoOo_**

"Riku?" Sora spoke to the toes, his toes, buried and wiggling in the sand before him.

"Sooora?" Riku questioned, smiling a lopsided smile and flashing concerned eyes at the younger boys tone.

"I think… I think we should go soon. Over the water, to the island I mean… I'm scared though." He rushed out, face stony. He didn't want to look scared… but he wanted to share… wanted to go, to move. Grim curiosity and restlessness were beginning to eat away at Sora.

"Scared of what?"

"What we might find. What we might not."

"You mean who, don't you?"

"Yeah." A thick curtain of silence fell between the two. Their little fingers reaching towards each other, barely touching as they leant back on their hands and swung their legs over the steps leading down to the bay. "Its funny… no ones come to the play island since we arrived. Maybe someone saw me when I went over?"

"… Noones been here for a while." This eared Riku curious blue eyes upon him. "Well… when everyone came here as kids… they'd all sit on the tree. The bark was worn down from all the stress. There were few ripe coconuts and good mushrooms to be had because we'd be constantly harvesting all there was to offer" He smiled and closed his eyes… picturing those beautiful lazy days as he painted them for his friend. "so we didn't have to go home to eat. We could stay here and play and fight and graze all day. But… the trees have been bending under all the fruit. Even the beach, look. Riddled with the pretty shells the girls would all collect, to make necklaces and bracelets and things from… heh. There wouldn't be a one to be had."

"You're still thinking of our friends as kids." Sora smiled as he corrected. "There may not be any kids around into that kinda stuff anymore. Would yooou still be collecting shells Riku? I haven't seen you pick up a single one since you got here!" He stuck his tongue out defiantly and grinned.

"Well no bu- HEY! I'm no girl!"

"Those hips tell me otherwise." Sora poked him.

Laughing and giggling and screaming bloody murder and tickling and wrestling ensured, which of course, ended in poor Sora wriggling and writhing beneath his old friend, nose wrinkled, eyes steaming, laughing hysterically and begging for mercy. Riku assaulted his belly with wiggling fingers and a wolfish grin, till his eyes met puppy dogs… the eyes of poor, kicked, abused puppy dogs.

Drat.

All was lost.

Riku was a sucker for the big blues. It was undeniable. He released his prisoner, who looked decidedly smug at his underhand victory.

_**oOoOoOo**_

They held each other close each night hearts and hands and bodies intertwined. On the coldest yet, Riku left the shivering Sora momentarily to fetch wood and build a small fire inside the shack, contained by a circle of stones piled high. Neither of them much desired burning their shelter down after all. They cooked their cold bones in the heat it cast out and in each other's arms, lazy eyes searching one another's faces and fingers slowly learning bodies… each imperfect images of perfection in the other's eyes.

Another night passed much the same.

Then another.

Kissing shyly, sharing memories of the island, their friends. Their fights. Blitzball induced war wounds. Their innocence.

Sora grew increasingly restless, contained within the little dot of land. His voice began to itch in his throat to speak aloud of things darker than the sunshine and the butterflies. Old times long passed by.

It swelled in his chest as days swelled and overflowed into a week… two… Increasingly so as he watched Riku wallow in the lazy flow of life in the little oasis.

He tried once, to raise the subject of kingdom hearts, keyholes and the worlds beyond… he was silenced with a unsettling sir in Riku's eyes. A chuckle of dismissal. A kiss.

He just didn't see, did he? Riku simply did not see all he had done.

Sora had dicided. This was the last, the every last night he would spend on the island. Tomorrow he would find his way to the mainland... he wanted a good life for the boy he loved. For his Riku. But he could not live much longer so suffocated. He would not let his Riku waste away here in the shadows.

In the morning. Sora would grasp his hand and pull him into the light.

He'd show Riku. He just didn't see at all…

"Look how they shine for… you…" Sora whispered to the night. Into the hair of his sleeping lover as he held him close and drifted off to sleep on the waves of his breathing, softly ebbing and flowing. To a sleep without dreams.

_**oOoOoOo **_

_To be continued... _

_**oOoOoOo **_

**Obligatory Authors Crap:**

Sorry this is so short… there just wasn't much more to say, until next chapter.

I have to say, as I left it so long before updating… I've come to despise the previous chapter XD Too… much… purple talk. I'll have to fix that some day.  
Same deal as before, but this time I was feeling lazy… I made Cloud bake the cookies ;

Cloud: If you loved me. You'd kill me now. :holds out tray of freshly baked keyblades, beautifully iced, still warm:

Hush…


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